Page 90 of One Southern Summer

“Your arrangement? Is that what you’re calling it?” Her words carried a bite. That same snarky tone she’d used at supper when she’d found out the truth. He really hated that. “She bribed you, Cole. And you let her.”

He bristled. “I didn’t let her.”

“You used me for your own selfish gain.” Her lower lip trembled, driving another stake of pain straight through him.

“It wasn’t completely selfish. Imari’s Place benefited. The women are going to be thrilled when they move in. You are so talented, Avery. Something good and beautiful has come out of a terrible situation.”

“Don’t try to make this sound better than it is. I’m so tired of men using me to get what they want.”

“That’s not what I did.” Anger and shame burned together and the words bubbled out before he could stop them.

She met his gaze then, glittery and fiery, and simply arched one eyebrow at him. That lone gesture spoke volumes. She was challenging him. Worse, she’d parked him in the same camp as Pax and Trey. He’d been wrong to mislead her, but he didn’t deserve that. “Don’t compare me to your ex-husband and Trey. Breaking news—you’re not the only one who knows what it’s like to be used and then pushed aside when something better comes along.”

Her mouth slackened and her complexion paled. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

His laugh carried a brittle edge. “Oh, please. That napkin pledge? What was that to you, anyway? Some sort of drunken promise made in desperation? Sure, I’ll marry you, Cole, when I’ve exhausted all my other options.”

Her spine stiffened. “I wasnotdesperate.”

“But you didn’t act like that night meant anything to you. Then you went off to college and chased after the first man who wooed you.” He was walking a tightrope now. One verbal misstep and he’d incinerate their relationship. These words were a long time coming, though. If she’d planned on never speaking to him again, he had to get it all out. “Don’t you see? I love you, Avery. What we wrote on that napkin wasn’t a silly vow. Not to me. I accept full responsibility for not telling you about Nana’s donation and her request that I invite you to help us with our project. I confess that it was an opportunity for me to get close to you again. If that’s selfish and despicable, then I guess I deserve your disdain.”

She fixed him with another flinty stare. “Is that your idea of an apology? Because if it is, I’m afraid it’s woefully inadequate.”

He clamped his lips together and challenged her gaze. “Then I don’t have anything else to say.”

Her gaze slid away in a slow, painful dismissal. All right then. Boldly, he leaned over one last time and pressed a kiss to her temple. Her sharp intake of breath nearly undid him. Pushing to his feet, he hesitated. Lingering. She remained motionless. Her jaw set.

“Goodbye, Avery.” Two simple words but he could barely force them out. Fighting to contain his emotions, he turned and walked away, his legs trembling with every step. Her rejection had just about flattened him. He’d expected her to be fired up. No one got over being lied to quickly. But nothing could’ve prepared him for this frigid, closed-off version of Avery. How could she sit there, stubbornly clinging to her hurt, so completely—

“Cole, wait.”

He loved her?

Those were the words that propelled her to her feet and sent her running after him.

“How long?” She stopped in front of him, the wind blowing her hair across her face. Pinning her errant curls back with one hand, she found his gaze.

“How long what?”

“How long have you...loved me?”

Confusion resided in his eyes. He shoved his hands in his pockets then glanced down at the dock, scraping the toe of his shoe across the weathered plank. “Does it matter? What sort of answer would be enough for you?”

She winced. His questions were barbs, digging into her tender wounded places. His words had brought them to this uncharted space in their relationship, but now he was going to back off and pretend his feelings were irrelevant? Worse, why wasn’t he willing to acknowledge that a relationship couldn’t be built on a lie?

Her memory offered up a highlight reel of the time they’d spent together, stretching all the way back to middle school. Study sessions, afternoons near the pond in his neighborhood, reading novels from their required summer reading list in neighboring hammocks. That dance with the infamous cocktail napkin pledge that had now gone viral.

Their recent intimate kisses.

Her cheeks heated and she glanced past him toward the house. Despite her hurt and her anger, she couldn’t forget the way he’d shown up here in her darkest hour, swooping in when she needed him most and rescuing her. Addison couldn’t get enough of him, and he’d playfully interacted with Hayes whenever he could. There probably wasn’t any man in the world her family thought more highly of than Cole.

After all, they’d practically defended him at supper when Nana bragged about her underhanded schemes.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

He scoffed. “If I’d showed up outside your sorority house in Raleigh and told you how I felt, would you have listened?”

The breeze rippled across the water and she shivered.

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